Science Fair and the St. Patrick's Day Parade

Andrew has been working hard on his oxygen science fair project.  We found out that a bigger fire uses more oxygen, and Andrew was very well rehearsed in giving his presentation.  The room was full of parents, grandparents, and kids all sharing their experiments.  I think I speak for all of us when I say "I'm glad that's over!"

 (Grandpa checking out Andrew's best friend Ryan's experiment)

(Grace and Miss Emily -- we helped her with her voice range experiment!) 

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And today is St. Patrick's Day!  In addition to cleaning up all the terrible messes the naughty leprechauns left us, we went downtown to take part in the Celtic street fair and parade.

As usual, we grabbed our hot dogs and sodas (usually they throw in a bag of chips, all for $2, but the chips were stuck in traffic on a truck somewhere -- so we got a soda and hot dog for $1!!)

We were a little later than usual getting to the fair, so we had to gulp down our lunch and go pick a spot for the parade.

But we had to stop and watch some Irish dancers first. The boys got up nice and high where they could see better.

The girls were happy to stay on the ground. 

We found our spot in the shade (it was 72* today!)

Now, please notice Joey's face in the next few photos.  Do you have that one kid that always ruins the photo?  That's Joey.  Every time.  Him and his eyebrows. 

We all enjoyed the parade, and took home a sack full of candy.  Matthew danced pretty much the whole time.  I love that he's not embarrassed to dance in front of anybody.  It's still cute. 

And here are a few of the things we really liked: 

When the Deloreans come, it is the moment we've all been waiting for. 

This thing just plane scared me.  It was the most awful machine I've ever seen. It was crooked and loud.  And it might not seem that big, but look at that full sized man on the ground. It would have squashed us like a bug. 

Until next year!

The Leprechauns Strike Again!

We forgot to put out the gold last night, and the leprechauns got us!

They left tiny footprints all over the kitchen as they searched around, finding nothing.  So they got into the fridge, jumped up on the counter, and turned our bread, licorice, and milk green!

Grace just couldn't believe that little guy.  She declared that his name is Roy G. Bivs. He has the most magic, so it must have been him.

 Notice Joey already has on his green shirt for the day.  He didn't want any pinches, so he put it on right after getting out of bed.

(They searched outside for footprints, but it rained, so they must have washed away)

 Detective work continuing...

 AAAHHHH!  She couldn't believe they made it up onto the counter.  Leprechauns are VERY good jumpers.

Oh man! They even got the licorice! AND the bread! 

Unbelievable!  I hope none of them show up to make a mess of the parade!

Over the River and Through the Woods

It was 70 degrees on Saturday!

After our chores (including cleaning out the garage, which was no small feat), we made a picnic lunch and enjoyed it outside on the deck.

Well, most of us enjoyed it anyway.  Grace did not like her sandwich, and picked it into pieces, which she consumed separately.  But the boys wolfed it down, just like always.

Then, because Grace had found a lady bug in her room and was extremely upset that we had to free it, we went to the Conservation Center to look for lady bugs.

Grace made a little pink tent out of paper for any lady bugs that she might find, to give them a home.  We didn't find any, but we had a great time looking!

 "Wow! These trees are BIG!"

We stopped by the river and found some good rocks to skip.  There's not much my kids like better than to throw rocks in water.  Keeps them busy for hours.

(looking for good ones...) 

Then some dogs showed up (with their owners), and the kids took turns fought over who would throw sticks into the river for them to retrieve.

They thought it was H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S

And then...

we tried to break our necks by climbing a weird tree.

Grace got herself into a predicament: 

Andrew made it up in no time at all, until I barred him from going any further.

 Since Grace was blocking the way, Joey tried it from the other side. But he found an opening in the tree that he thought was filled with disgusting eggs.  I took a look and tried to convince him that it was just old dried up bark, but he was pretty sure it was disgusting eggs.

And a little farther down the path, Joey spotted what looked like some body's old Christmas tree, still with ornaments on it.  We laughed, thinking about some old hobo out here in the middle of winter with a cute little Christmas tree. 

Matt vs. The Table

Matt and I went on some errands today...

We strolled through the JC Penney shoe department...

As I turned and walked toward the checkout, Matthew walked behind me...

Two seconds later, I heard screaming (and so did every other human within a 2-mile radius).

Matt had tripped over his own feet and landed face-first into the edge of a table leg.  Why does that kid always land on the edge of tables with his face?

The blood gushed immediately, and since his nose was swollen and sore, I couldn't press on it.  So I used the old artery trick, and a few minutes later (and half a box of tissue later...), the bleeding stopped and we high-tailed it out of there.

But not before 3 managers each separately came up to me to ask if I wanted it documented.  I told each of them since he tripped over his own feet, and it was no body's fault, I wouldn't be a crazy person and sue them.  Well, I didn't mention the word "sue" because I didn't want to fill out paperwork for the next half hour.  But I assured them that they were not at fault, and since he was still crying (and continued for the next hour), we would just go home.

I did get 2 cute pairs of shoes, though -- and only paid $3 because I had a gift card!

Just a little purple mark between his eyebrows, and the right side of his nose is pretty swollen.  All in all, not bad this time.

And...

We were invited to go to the park for a picnic lunch, but since Matt was pretty mad for about 2 hours, we declined.  His little friend, Emily, brought him some things to make him feel better.

She decorated a white paper bag with a note, and a picture of him on his head, plus a plethora of goodies from their house.  What a sweet friend! This really made his day!